Chris Hogg was certainly under no illusions when he accepted the additional responsibility of team captain from John Hughes at the start of the season. The central defender grasped the job with both hands, making it clear on the day that he was appointed that he considered it the biggest honour of his career so far - but knew that not only did he have to lead the side on the park, but he had to ensure his own standards did not fall.

Remaining true to his own high standards has not been easy, and a difficult start to the season saw Chris drop out of the side briefly. In typical fashion however he battled back, and on Saturday produced the type of performance that has made him one of the most respected players in the Scottish Premier League. Looking back over the opening round of games the skipper was rightly satisfied with what the side have achieved so far, but he also firmly believes that it is not enough, and the aim has to be continual improvement.

Hogg told the Hibernian official web site: "We've only lost twice in the first round of fixtures - not bad, but it could have been better. It's a pretty decent start all the same and something that we have to build on, we have to look to do even better in the next round of fixtures, and that has to be our target now. 21 points is good from the eleven games but I'd like to think we can improve on that - we are not kidding ourselves on just how hard that is going to be, time will tell if we can achieve it but part of being able to is grinding out results when we are not playing particularly well - such as against Hearts on Saturday. It will take us doing that throughout the season to achieve something at the end of it."

The prospect of losing Sol Bamba for an extensive period of international duty in January is a problem for John Hughes, but that perhaps was eased somewhat at the weekend by the performance of Ian Murray, playing alongside Hogg in central defence because of the recurrence of a long-term knee injury to Bamba: "Ian Murray is a very adaptable player as we've seen over the years, we have played together in defence a few times now and we are comfortable with that.

"As a back four unit on Saturday I felt we played really well, sure there is a lot to work on in an attacking sense but the major positive from the weekend was the clean sheet and the manner we achieved that - we limited their opportunities in the game. It was great to see Lewis Stevenson in there again, he gives away a bit of height but he did overcome that. He is a level-headed guy who you know you can rely on when he comes into the side, he will always put in a shift for you and so it's great to see him get a game and do well."

Stevenson's performance on Saturday certainly did not go unobserved by Scotland coaches, as the player was recalled to the Scotland Under-21 squad yesterday. Stevenson will join Paul Hanlon in the squad to face Azerbaijan in the Tofig Bakhramov Stadium on Saturday in a vital UEFA Under-21 Championship tie. Bamba meanwhile has also joined his international squad this week with manager John Hughes commenting: "Sol had to step out of training on Friday when his troublesome knee flared up again, his international team doctor will take another look at that. If he plays or not will depend on how he sees things."

Pics: Alan Rennie for Hibernian TV